Transit
by waterbaby134
Summary: Jane and Lisbon are taking a trip, when Lisbon runs into Pike by chance at the airport. The conversation they needed to have.


**I don't doubt that several stories to this effect have already been published, but I hope that what this one lacks in originality it makes up for in being enjoyable.**

**I think Pike deserved a little more of a send-off than the vague mention he got in the last scene of S6. Yes, he was never Lisbon's soulmate (we all know who that is) but he was still important to her. I'm not 100% sure he's exactly in character but I'm reasonably happy with how he turned out.**

**I really wish I could write something that doesn't turn out angsty, but after several failed ****attempts at fluff I must accept my limitations.**

**Rated K+. I own nothing. **

**Please enjoy.**

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><p>The crush of people swarmed past Lisbon like an advancing horde, dragging suitcases or toddlers along behind, conversing in low voices, dark shadows under their eyes from a night without sleep. The slow-moving sea of passengers that could be found in airports the world over. Lisbon checked her watch and blew out an irritated sigh. There were only fifteen minutes left until their flight would be called and Jane was nowhere to be seen. She'd only turned around for a moment to get her boarding pass out of her bag, and he'd seized the opportunity to perform one of his infamous disappearing acts, for reasons known only to himself.<p>

In hindsight, she probably should have expected the delay they'd had at the security check-in. Jane of course, was well-known to TSA after the last time he'd been here, and it had taken the persuasive powers of both of them, as well as a phone call to Abbot, to convince them to even allow him into the terminal, let alone onto a plane.

The thought made a smile pull at her lips. Even now, she still remembered the moment he'd found her; 'the woman in 12B' as clearly as if it had happened yesterday, though at the time she'd felt nothing but utter disbelief. After all, she'd convinced herself he was unaffected by her planned move to D.C, had tried her hardest to put all she'd felt for him aside in the hope it was better for them both, and then, there he was. Saying all the things she'd long since given up any hope of hearing.

And now, here they were, back again. But together this time.

They were flying back to California; the upcoming long weekend coinciding with the anniversary of Jane's family's deaths. He'd said that he wanted to observe it by visiting their graves one last time, and then, a few days later, had nervously asked if she would go with him. She'd been surprised that he'd even needed to ask; she'd thought it went without saying that she would be there for him in any way he needed her.

When she asked him why he hadn't asked her sooner, he'd merely shaken his head, and muttered something about not wanting to taint their future with his past.

She'd told him not to be so stupid. She told him she would go. And she told him that she loved him. She told him that a lot these days, for she suspected he didn't believe her when she said it; hating himself as much as he did. She hoped one day he would forgive himself but until then, she'd reassure him as much as he needed her to.

Twelve minutes to go until the boarding call and still no golden-curled head anywhere in her vicinity. The good news however, was that she hadn't seen any security guards hurrying towards anything; a sure sign that her boyfriend was up to his old tricks. Whatever he was up to had to be legal then.

Or he just hadn't been caught yet. Both scenarios were equally likely.

She sank in a nearby chair by the boarding gate, not about to waste her time and energy chasing him all around the terminal. He'd have to come back here sooner or later; she had his boarding pass too.

The neighbouring gate lounge featured a smattering of passengers trying to get comfortable in the hard plastic chairs. She let her eyes travel over them with mild interest; the young family with screaming twin boys, the elderly couple, the mid-twenties looking backpacker, snoozing in his seat, the dark haired man flipping through the newspaper.

By chance, the man happened to look up as her gaze travelled over him, and her stomach gave a lurch. She tried to avert her eyes, but it was too late; he had already seen her. She saw the flicker of recognition, the start of surprise. Of all the places in all the world, Marcus Pike, her ex-boyfriend was mere feet away in an airport gate lounge.

She lifted an awkward hand in greeting, and he did the same. Then she pulled her phone out of her pocket and studied it intently in the hopes that when she looked up, he would have disappeared from her sight, like an optical illusion. When she glanced up again, he was still there, watching her with a tiny frown on his face.

Of course, he was well within his rights to still be upset with her. She'd unceremoniously dumped him with a two-minute phone call in this very building, before hurrying off to the TSA office to find out what had become of Jane. He'd been nothing but good to her, honest, loving and in the end she'd done what she always did and gone running back to Patrick Jane.

She didn't regret her choice to be with the one man she'd ever truly loved, but she was ashamed at how she'd ended things with Pike. He'd deserved better, and here was the perfect opportunity to make amends for that, if she could pluck up the courage to actually speak to him.

She wasn't even sure if she could bear to look him in the eye, after the way she'd treated him, and wondered if it might be better just to let sleeping dogs lie. It had been six months now after all, surely everybody had moved on.

He took the decision out of her hands, getting up from his seat, discarding his newspaper and winding his way slowly through the columns of chairs to get to her. She took a furtive look around at her Jane-less surroundings and forced a smile onto her face.

"Hey Teresa," he greeted her, quietly. "It's been a while."

He looked well, she thought, now she saw him up close. Life in D.C suited him. The suit he wore looked twice as expensive as the ones he'd used to choose in Texas, his shoes were highly polished, and a brand-new watch glimmered at his wrist. She was glad to see the move had been good for him.

"Marcus," she said in return. "How have you been?" She immediately regretted the flippant question when he gave a rueful smile. Luckily for her, he was inclined to overlook her slight faux pas.

"Can't complain," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "The Bureau's set me up in a nice apartment, the pay is good, and the work's interesting. Not too bad, all up."

If he was still carrying any resentment toward her for the abrupt end of their relationship he was too polite to say so, and she appreciated that. If he'd been Jane, he would have made a point of bringing it up just to see her reaction, but that had been one of the things that had attracted her to Marcus in the first place, a sense of delicacy when discussing sensitive issues. He truly was a genuinely good man, and it was only the fact that she'd fallen in love with her handsome, if slightly sociopathic consultant first, that had stopped her from truly appreciating it when they were together.

"And what about you?" he asked, after accepting her congratulations on his new job. "How are the Austin criminals getting on without me on their case?

She got the feeling he'd intentionally made the question specific enough to not include Jane in the answer, for which she couldn't exactly blame him, and obliged him, describing their latest cases and arrests while managing not to mention her boyfriend's involvement once. Of course, the absence of Jane's ideas and plans in these retellings made the stories far less entertaining then they had actually been, but as she reminded herself, this was how normal cops did police work. This was how she herself had used to operate, before Jane came along, she'd sworn by good detective work and looked down her nose at cheap tricks and flashy things. How times had changed.

"What are you doing back here anyway?" she asked curiously. To her knowledge, Marcus hadn't left any family here in Texas when he'd moved, not that they'd ever got to the stage of her meeting any of them, which was odd, as their relationship had moved fast. One minute, they were going out for pancakes, the next he was asking her to move away with him, the next he was asking her to marry him in the corridor at work. At the time, it had simply been refreshing to be with someone whose word she could take at face value. If he said he'd pick her up for dinner at seven, it meant he'd pick her up for dinner at seven, with none of the extra surprises or caveats that she'd come to expect from over a decade of dealing with Jane.

Unfortunately, this contentment she'd found hadn't been able to supersede the long-held attraction she'd always had for Jane and when _finally_ he'd decided to stop being such a martyr and actually fight for her, she hadn't been able to resist. All he'd had to do was ask.

Marcus gave an impish sort of grin. "Frat brother's wedding," he said. "He got married last week, and then I stayed on for a while catching up with all the others, but I need to be back in D.C tonight." There was a slight, rather uncomfortable pause, as though he didn't really care to share the next part. "I have a date tonight," he said.

She couldn't lie to herself, she did feel a slight pang at these words, but that was good. It meant she had truly cared about him, if this news upset her, and she was glad for that. Sometimes she'd wondered if Jane's influence had rubbed off on her too much, and she'd been simply using Marcus as a device in order to finally give Jane the kick in the ass he'd desperately needed, but this proved her wrong. That was good, he needed a moderating factor in his life; the day she stopped disapproving when he came up with dangerous, stupid ideas was the day she should quit police work.

"That's great," she said, meaning it. "What's her name?"

"Zoe," he said, clearly still feeling a little uncomfortable with the turn the conversation had taken. "She works for Counterterrorism." He cleared his throat. "And what about you? I take it you and Jane are…?" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Yeah, we are," she gently confirmed, and tried not to notice the shadow that passed through his eyes. "For nearly six months now."

Neither was inclined to comment on the coincidental timing of the demise of their own relationship and the beginning of her new one.

"That's new," Marcus said instead, gesturing to her gold necklace. "Did he give you that?"

Unconsciously, she fingered the pendant at her neck, a small gold heart with a green gemstone set into it. Jane had given it to her a month or two after they'd started dating, sneaking up behind her one morning and putting it around her neck while she got ready for work. He said he wanted her to have a gift from him that she didn't feel she had to give back, but she also felt it was his way of apologising for everything they'd been through in the long circuitous road to finally becoming a couple, and perhaps as a stopgap for an engagement ring. After all, Marcus had proposed after only a few months, perhaps he thought she would be expecting something similar from him. She didn't. She had him now, and that was enough, anything else that came next would just be icing on the cake.

She hadn't taken the necklace off since.

"Yes," she told Marcus, trying not to smile too much. "I like it."

"Is that a real emerald?" he asked, as the stone sparkled in the strong overhead lights.

"Probably. I never asked. But Patrick doesn't generally do things by halves." She didn't dare find out the dollar value of the necklace, if Jane's track record in gift-giving was anything to go by, she'd probably have a stroke if she knew.

"Patrick, huh?" He gave a small chuckle. "It's funny, I don't think I ever heard you call him by his first name while we were together, and now you say it as though you've been doing it all your life."

"It took some getting used to," she admitted. She still called him Jane at work for simplicity's sake, but in their private life it seemed odd to keep referring to him by his surname. Particularly in bed. In fact, every time she did, he'd drag her off to the bedroom and 'punish' her with sex and kisses until she got it right. The habit was proving hard to break, but they were having a great time trying.

She refrained from sharing that part with Marcus, however.

"That's a classy move," he remarked, gesturing to it again. "I couldn't even be bothered to get you a ring when I proposed to you. I can see why you chose him."

She gave a jerk of surprise at this uncharacteristically snide remark, and noticed that he too seemed taken aback at his own words.

"I'm sorry," he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. "I guess I'm not quite as OK with all this as I thought I was."

"I understand. But Marcus, please believe me when I say that I'm with him because I love him. No other reason."

"Are you happy?" he asked.

She paused, considering. She and Jane still fought like cats and dogs. There still were days when she had to physically restrain herself from punching him in the face. He could still be an arrogant ass at times, and he said she still was a bossy control-freak. But they were happy.

"I am," she said.

"Good, then. You made the right choice. Is this you?" Marcus asked her now, as an announcement came over the P.A system. Their flight was being called, and passengers had begun shuffling toward the gate.

"Yep," she said. "We're off to California for the long weekend. Patrick has some old friends he needs to look up." She glanced around the area again. "That is, if he ever decides to get his lazy ass over here before the plane leaves."

Marcus chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about that," he said, pointing over her shoulder. She turned around to see that familiar blond head pushing his way through the crowd, making people grumble in annoyance as he jostled them on his way to her side. One man said something angry she couldn't quite catch, and she was unable to hear Jane's reply; though his sunny smile and the man's thunderous look gave her the gist of it.

"You make sure he takes care of you," Marcus said, quietly. "Don't make me regret not coming back for you that day."

"I'm the one that takes care of him," she said, with a little laugh. "That's the way it's always been. Good luck, Marcus." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, just as Jane emerged from the crowd. She saw his eyes run curiously over the both of them, taking in the situation, but mercifully, he chose not to say anything.

Marcus addressed him instead. "I hope you know what a lucky man you are, Jane," he said, and then turning to her once more, bade her farewell before heading back to his own gate lounge.

"Where the hell were you?" she demanded of her boyfriend, smacking him hard in the arm. "I thought you'd been arrested, or God only knew what else."

He smirked. "Contrary to popular belief, I do know how to conduct myself in an airport," he said.

"Previous evidence would suggest otherwise."

He reached down, took her hand and brought it to his lips. "I think we can both agree that last time, I had a very good reason."

She smiled at him. "I'm glad you did."

Jane inclined his head toward where Marcus had reclaimed his seat. "Is that what he wanted to talk to you about?" he asked.

"Among other things."

"And do you feel better now? I know you've been feeling guilty, but I didn't like to say anything in case you changed your mind about staying with me." At her sceptical look, he added, "Seriously! Don't think I don't realize that he was a better match for you than I am. I'm just counting on you not to realize it too." As always, the Patrick Jane mask was in place so that she couldn't quite gauge exactly how much of that statement had been exaggerated, but she'd bet good money he wasn't nearly as flippant about it as he seemed.

"You're stuck with me now," she said, pressing a quick kiss to his lips. "Get used to it."

Behind them, the attendant taking tickets was calling out their names, apparently they were the last ones left to board.

"Holding up a plane again?" she said to him as he grinned down at her. "Come on, the last thing we want is TSA to get their hands on you again."

Jane allowed her to lead him through the rows of seats to the gate, and while she riffled in the bag for their boarding passes, his eyes met Pike's, who had been watching them.

Pike inclined his head to him, and he returned the gesture, before Teresa took him by the hand and tugged him through the doors.

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><p><strong>As always, I hope you liked it, and thank you for reading my stories. If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't write.<strong>


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